Sunday, July 29, 2012

After a whirlwind romance with child psychologist Matthew
Frazier, newly-wed Ava Whalen, thirty-five years old midwife
from Antioch, moves in her husband’s ancestral home on the lovely St. Simons
Island off the coast of Georgia. While trying to adjust to the new environment and to her new life as a married woman, she
stumbles across secrets and ghosts that have deep roots in the past (about a
century) and grave repercussions in the present. Not only she finds out that
her husband has been previously married to another midwife, that he is a
widower and that his former wife’s family believes him to be somehow
responsible for their daughter’s accidental
death. She also experiences a strong and inexplicable
sense of connection with her husband’s family history and first wife Adrienne.

Matthew’s attempts to conceal and
destroy every remaining trace of
Adrienne from their home, fuel Ava’s suspicions , but it will be Matthew himself,
despite his reluctancy and secretive attitude,
to ultimately enable Ava to fulfill her destiny. With his help she
will unveil her elusive past and unlock
the secrets that link her to Matthew’s ancestor
Pamela Frazier, a midwife who fell
victim of her jealous sister’s schemes and died tragically, leaving behind her
beloved husband, Geoffry Frazier, and their son.

Sea Change is one of the best books I have read in
years. It warmed my heart and tugged at all the emotional strings that a piece
of literary fiction can possibly tug at. So good I didn't want it to end. Narrated
from three different points of view (Ava’s, her mother’s Gloria, and Pamela’s),
this engrossing tale of love ‘lost and regained’ unfolds on multiple chronological shifts between
2011 and 1812. Despite the multi-layered narrative style, I never felt thrown
off-balance: the switches between narrating voices and the swaying of their
memories felt natural like the gentle rolling of the sea waves...the sea, ever
silent protagonist and backdrop of the Frazier family’s tragedies.

Karen White’s writing style has a distinctive lyrical
quality. I utterly enjoyed the Southern setting with all the charm of an island
with a strong historical identity. White’s rich prose and detailed descriptions
are very powerful and evocative: the vivid descriptions of Matthew’s ancestral
home, the island’s unique flora, the cemetery, the lighthouse, create a solid
bridge between written words and visual images.

This heart-pounding mystery provided a very insightful
analysis of family dynamics ( the delicate bond and trust issues between newly-wed husband and wife, the complexity of
a mother-daughter conflictual love, jealousy and antagonism between sisters)
and for their depth and poignancy they appealed to me and got me misty-eyed even
more than the paranormal twist of the storyline.

Of all the characters, the one that troubled me the most is
Ava’s husband, Matthew. It felt to me like he was the weakest link in the story,
although he turns out to be the one who holds the keys (literally and
figuratively) of the secret doors that our characters will need to open, in
order to shed light on the past and be able to move on. I cannot quite understand
why he goes to such lengths to hide the real motivations behind his secretive behavior,
when he could have and should have been open with Ava from the start. My guess is that the author used this
character and his lack of transparency mainly to enhance the suspense element
of the story. Some of his choices remain questionable for me, questionable and
forgivable like many human behaviours are when love is at stake and we are not
willing to take chances. What he demands
of his wife is a huge leap of faith and luckily for him, Ava is a great
character, with a heart twice the size of Georgia and the guts of somebody who’s
willing to take chances for the sake of what she loves the most. As for Gloria,
Ava’s mother’s, her inner conflicts touched the cords of my heart…as a mother I
cannot but understand and sympathize with her.

Despite the very imaginative foundation of this book (karma
and reincarnation themes), the storyline is very fetching and the
suspension-of-disbelief not difficult to reach at all: emotions and feelings are
so well rendered that the entire narration wrenched my heart and swept me off
my feet. Love for her husband and son is
what brings Pamela to death and what will bring her back in Ava’s life a
century later. Love is what brings Gloria and Matthew to hide some truths in
order to protect Ava. In the end, love seems to be the great motivator, the
engine behind questionable, courageous, and fateful decisions, able to cheat
death and defy time in an endless alternation of ends and beginnings.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Six
months after the suspicious boat explosion that killed her mother and step-brother, emergency
physician Cassandra Christo decides to take a temporary leave from her job in
San Diego and return to her deceased mother’s estate in Baya, Mexico. Once her beloved
childhood home, now the estate is run by her ruthless step-father, Saul Flores,
and what Cassie plans to do is to collect evidence of his illicit use of estate
funds and involvement in an illegal business, in order to evict him.

On her way from the US to Mexico, she walks into
a human smuggling ring: a truck full of Mexican women headed toward the US
border lays overturned on the side of the highway. After taking care of few
injured women, Cassie escapes the enraged smugglers and manages to alert the US
authorities about her gruesome discovery. Back at the family estate she meets Saul’s head of security, Rio Santana, the same
man who stood next to her and comforted her at the cemetery during the heart-wrenching
funerals of her mother and step-brother.

For months after that first
meeting, Cassie has treasured and cherished the memory of that kind man, the unfocused
memory of an emotion more than the exact recollection of his face. She has no
idea that the feeling of immediate emotional connection she experienced then
was mutual: since that funeral, Cassie has been haunting Rio’s dreams and
sustaining him with the warm and sweet memory of their embrace. What Cassie
also ignores is that Rio is an undercover CIA agent on a mission to gain Saul’s absolute trust as his chief security
guy, and tear down his smuggling organization.

Despite the undeniable chemistry
and emotional connection between them, Cassie and Rio will not be free to reveal
their feelings right away: hidden truths, conflicting signals, and
misunderstandings will ricochet across a tight string of pulse-pounding events,
keeping our lead couple engaged in a heart-melting “lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers”
dance.

Not only Cassie has to drag around a huge burden of grief, sense of dislocation,
and lack of closure after the sudden and suspicious death of her beloved ones;
she also carries the physical and emotional scars of another traumatic
experience, the attempted rape and attempted murder at the hands of a man she
trusted. Opening her heart to Rio, a man
apparently close and loyal to her despicable step-dad, triggers a huge internal
conflict in our gutsy but vulnerable Cassie, opening painful wounds and
unresolved emotional issues. On his side, Rio’s internal struggle between his deep
feelings for Cassie and the risk of exposing them to certain death in a highly
dangerous situation adds to his personal baggage of grief and family tragedies.
Their relationship will grow and intensify on a conflictual path, swinging
between moments of weak-in-the-knees romance and heart-wrenching
misunderstandings.

In this light, Joan Swan's masterful
use of sexual tension and love scenes is an extremely powerful writing tool in
the advancement of the plot and character building. In one of the steamiest
scenes, Cassie and Rio will ultimately let their guards down , abandoning
themselves in each other’s arms just to raise issues about their mutual trust
and plunge Cassie into a huge feeling of discomfort. She is deeply and
emotionally involved with a man she doesn’t really know, hopefully an ally,
more likely an enemy.

Sometimes we have to make a huge
leap of faith between love and trust, and our characters will hang onto every
possible strand of hope, even in the midst of danger and death, in order to
heal their wounded souls and protect
each other.

For this and for many other
reasons, this well-crafted romantic suspense novel deserves 5 shining stars. What I love the most about Joan Swan's books
is that they start with a boom and from there it's an escalation, with all
kinds of plot twist-and-turns and emotional roller-coasters in the middle. The
first few pages into the book and I’m already breathless…seriously breathtaking
opening lines describing Cassie's night ride to Mexico, fiery sparks of sexual tension flying between her
and Rio from the get-go, poignant is the author's insight into the current and
tragic calamity of illegal immigration and human trafficking.

The lead couple is made of
likable and believable characters: Cassie with her spunky personality, her
snappy tongue, and yet endearing in her vulnerability and deep sense of justice;
Rio with his self-confidence, secretive attitude, and “hard shell” when it
comes to his undercover mission, but soft in his core when his deep feelings and
protective instinct for Cassie are involved.
Absolutely enjoyable are their gritty dialogues and the charming setting
of Mexican beaches, extra steamy are the love scenes…reading through them is
like opening a jar of spiced honey. The romantic element is very strong and
delicious, but it's perfectly embedded in a pulse-pounding plot that escalates from deceit within Cassie’s family to the
social evils of rival gangs, illegal immigration, and terrorism. The flow of
emotions and events is always seamless and consistent.

Apparently the popular myth
claiming that lightning cannot strike the same place twice doesn't apply to
consistently talented author Joan Swan. After FEVER’s acclaimed success, the
triple RWA® Golden Heart finalist delivers another solid suspense novel with
that perfect balance of gripping action and sensuous romance that may just
become her distinguished hallmark.

This is the review of a complimentary e-copy kindly provided by the author in return for an honest opinion.

This short story was a very nice
treat and a great set up for 2 great full length novels to come. As I said in
my review of Kiss of the Goblin Prince (Shadowlands #2), each installment of
this highly imaginative paranormal romance series by talented author Shona Husk
can be read as a stand-alone novel, but it can be fully appreciated if read in
order.

In this prequel we get to know
how Roan and Eliza, the main characters of The Goblin King ( Shadowlands #1) meet for the first time. Roan is
a Celtic king turned into a heartless goblin by a curse that had destroyed his
people. He lives in The Shadowlands, a desolated realm populated and ruled by
greedy monsters obsessed with gold: the Goblins. Roan visits the Fixed Realm
(our world) at will, using people’s dreams and nightmares, but with his ugly goblin
looks and an empty and cold spot where his heart used to be, he would rather hide
in the darkness and dismiss the summons of those humans. Until Eliza, a 16
years old girl from the XXI century, a girl who grew up believing in fairy
tales, summons him when she is in danger, and he just cannot resists her call.

Her mother had said always be careful what you wish for as she’d toldstories about a man who’d been cursed for
loving gold and had been given a heart of gold as punishment. Damned to be
goblin, now he was forced to answer other people’s wishes. She closed her eyes.
She had to answer hers. “I wish the Goblin King would take me away from here.”

To save her from an overzealous
suitor, Roan answers Eliza’s call and takes her in a place of light and life
(the Summerland) where he can show himself in his original human appearance
without scaring her. Something about
Liza’s strikes some cords in his soul, making him wish to be remembered as a
man, not as a greedy monster, rekindling his humanity and his desire to go back
to his true kind and honorable self.

“Where I go the Shadowland follows. I bring darkness, death, and
despair. I rule land made of dust and famine. My subjects are goblins who’d eat
you alive. Do not summon me again for next time I may not return you.”

But when they part their ways to
return to their realms, Roan and Eliza will not forget about each other. He saw
in Eliza something worthier than gold, and she saw in Roan a man who needed to
be saved.

Highly recommended as an
introductory read to The Goblin King (Shadowlands #1).

From now on Shona Husk will
always hold a pole position in my gargantuan TBR list: I fell in love with the
fertile imagination, fluid prose, and introspective sensitivity of this Australian
paranormal, fantasy novels author. My
only regret, if any, is that I should have started my journey through this
captivating Shadowlands series with the
novella ”The Summons: A Goblin King
Prequel” and the first full length
installment “The Goblin King”, in order to fully appreciate the fairy-tale
world structure that holds together The Shadowlands (a desolate land populated by
the heartless Goblins), The Fixed Realm (our world), and The Birch Foundation
(a mysterious organization that facilitates the transition between these two
worlds). Reading the series in this order would have certainly helped me to
understand from the start the main characters’s backstories, the role played by
the secondary characters, and the
connections existing between them. These introductory readings add to
the enjoyment of a book that can be read as a stand-alone, anyway, without loosing any of its alluring qualities.

Amanda Coulter is a young widow
who has given up on happiness after the sudden death of her husband. She works as a youth counselor at the local high-school
and her daughter, Brigit, is affected by severe asthma. At the wedding of her
sister-in-law Eliza, Amanda meets the enigmatic and fascinating Dai King. Sparks of attraction fly immediately between
them. Dai is Eliza’s husband’s brother. He’s apparently a normal young man, a Welsh
scholar, world traveler, and an expert of ancient civilizations and dead languages. In
reality, Dai is a Celtic Prince, as old as our civilization, a man who has been
spending the past 2,000 years fighting against Romans, Druids, and Goblins,
before breaking a curse and being reintegrated in the XXI century Fixed Realm (our
world) as a free human, like his brother Roan.

Dai is physically and emotionally
scarred: in order to protect his younger sister Mave from the perverse attentions
of the Roman General Claudius, he had to endure Claudius’ vicious tortures and
abuses. Dai was eventually cursed by the King Goblin and
held captive for centuries in the Shadowlands, only to endure more unspeakable
acts of violence from the Goblins and to be turned into a goblin himself. He used to be a mage, a man endowed with
magical healing powers, but now that his curse is broken and he is back in the
Fixed Realm, he is straggling with his new identity provided by The Birch
Foundation and a deep sense of dislocation.
In the transition between worlds
he had to leave behind most of his treasures, but what bothers him the most is that he cannot get a
hold of that wealth of knowledge he has accumulated over the centuries: all his books about magic are being retained
by The Birch Foundation and without them he feels like he cannot recall his
magical powers.

The Shadowlands series fictional worlds are built
on the assumption that our universe is ruled by magic and held together by
invisible strings: Dai and his brother Roan are able to control them in order
to manipulate the fabric that makes the world. I like the way Shona Husk opens
her slow-paced narration describing the chemistry and the bond existing from
the start between Dai and Amanda. They are both initially unaware of the magical
golden threads connecting their souls;
although drawn to each other, they’re both very tentative at the
beginning of the story and they will keep being hesitant for a good part of it.
The emotional baggage made of sorrow, secrets, family tragedies, and
responsabilities they both have to carry is too heavy for them to be rid of it
and yield to emotions and desire, let alone love, no matter how bad they both
need it. Dai has been “out of touch with
the world for too long…to obsessed with
the dead and obsolete.” Amanda can perfectly relate to his emotions, because
she has been holding on her deceased husband’s memory for years, without being able to move on and look forward to another love
relationship.

They are both very likable
characters: the tortured and troubled soul Dai, the calm and caring counselor
Amanda. It seems to be like a very good characters combination, perfect
material for a sweeping and soulful romance. Dai’s numerous scars make him insecure: he’s
afraid Amanda will loath him and reject him because of them. The dark secrets
of his real identity and his past hold him from revealing his feelings for her,
although the attraction is slowly consuming him. The biggest obstacle standing in the way is in his chest in the
form of talons clutched around his heart, a magical grip placed there by the evil King Goblin
as a reminder of the evil Dai has been a victim of and a perpetrator.
Forgiveness is the only remedy that could set him free, but he is still
prisoner of his resentment: the hideous tortures he has suffered for centuries
fuel his hate and give strength to the King Goblin’s grip. Dai’s decision to remain celibate and avoid any kind of
physical touch with other creatures
poses an interesting challenge to his attraction for Amanda, but it also helps
to build up an intoxicating and heart-melting sexual tension between them. They
seek physical contact every time they meet, they haunt each other’s dreams,
they leave each other breathless with stolen kisses and caresses, they hold
hands interlacing their fingers in a promise of scorching sensuality, without
abandoning themselves to a complete enjoyment. Every time they seem to be ready
to get closer and open their hearts, their past stands in the way and breaks
the momentum, prolonging that sweet torture up to the last chapters of the
novel, when the barriers will finally break down and the two lovers will find an extremely
gratifying release. As a whole, action and major developments are pushed at the
end and my feeling is that the author aims to set up the scene for the sequel
rather than advance the plot of this installment. The Kiss of The Goblin Prince
mainly focuses on Dai’s and Amanda’s quest towards emotional freedom and
self-forgiveness, in a pattern of healing that will involve also Amanda’s
daughter. I really appreciate this introspective tone and character development
versus an action-driven storyline.

I personally loved the way Shona
Husk uses the idea of the invisible threads to describe the different kinds of
connection existing between characters and their world: gold strings binding
Dai and Amanda, gray and thin strings connecting Dai and The Shadowlands,
colorful and numerous strings connecting Amanda and her ill daughter Brigit,
loose and pale strings connecting Dai to his brother Roan, fine as spider silk
the strings connecting Dai to Brigit. Shona Husk did a great job building Dai’s and Amanda’s
characters, painting them with the brushes of her rich and sensuous prose and
the great emotional impact of her narrative style. I simply loved Husk’s
description of Dai as a man in pieces
like an image reflected in a broken mirror, a
dislocated man who needs to borrow a life in the same way he needs to
borrow furniture in order to start all over again and live in a different world, a man who has been
studying hundreds of dead languages for century, but who will remain speechless
in front of the woman he loves. I loved the fact he is a book hoarder, spending
a good part of the story in the search of his magic books, when the real magic
is in his own body (written all over with tattoos and undecipherable spells just
like a book) and in his love for Amanda.

About Me

Mother of two amazing kids, Miss A™ entertainment columnist, avid reader bordering book-fetishism. Books are my childhood friends, my stress-relief therapy, my wings to fly to faraway lands and distant times, my source of knowledge and inspiration. I simply adore them and consume them aplenty. My "book love affair" began in my early teens with the Bronte sisters, Dickens, Austen, Poe, Conrad, and James. My taste in reading was shaped by those masters and still today, when I read fiction, I appreciate the dark tones, the Gothic touches, and the psychological insight typical of those classics.